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Transpired Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over System & Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.